


Walking Dead - All I Need Book 1 - Splintering

by MacklinWrites



Series: Walking Dead - All I Need Book 1 - Splintering [1]
Category: The Walking Dead (TV), The Walking Dead Series - Robert Kirkman & Jay Bonansinga
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Blood and Violence, Canon-Typical Violence, Gen, Hallucinations, Mental Health Issues, Mental Instability, Original Character(s)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-07
Updated: 2018-06-06
Packaged: 2019-05-19 04:12:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,021
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14866373
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MacklinWrites/pseuds/MacklinWrites
Summary: This story is about a boy from St. Louis trying to survive in the world as it is now. Before the world fell he wasn't a well boy and only managed to get as far as he has due to his older sister helping him, taking care of him and trying to keep him as grounded as he can be. His situation is changing though and he has to do his best to try to continue to survive.He will meet various people in his travels including a couple that saves angels, and a thief turned soldier who offers to teach Corey a trick or two.The story is a quasi-AU to the television show where a stated timeline will be followed and maintained within the story, and while some events from the show will occur, some new events not experienced by the audience will also occur as the TV show tended to jump about in time a lot and leave a lot of holes. Eventually Corey will encounter the main crew from the show but it will not be for awhile. I hope you enjoy





	Walking Dead - All I Need Book 1 - Splintering

The nightmares continue to try to grab at Corey and pull him closer, deeper into their grip but finally, finally he finds the strength to push away from them. Somehow he can escape their clutches once more. As he wakes the terror that seeps from the creatures hiding within the recesses of his mind cling to him, clouding his mind with a musk of fear, and, of confusion.  
Reflexively he tries to sit up but finds the space he is in to be narrow, as he hits his forehead off something metal. The pain has him fall back where he then smacks the back of his head off of something else hard. Tears well up in his eyes as he cries out for Lynn, he screams for her actually.

He feels a hand reach for him, trying to grab him. Instinctively he reaches to meet it but they can’t quite seem to match up. His fingers brush the other fingers and though his mind hasn’t fully come back together his panic alarm sounds. A panicked voice in the back of his mind shouts that something is wrong. He looks in the direction of the hand's source and he sees a man, rotted, dead, reaching for him. He tries to move away from the dead man quickly but the confines of the space he is trapped in don't allow him to do more than wiggle away. 

As he slides out from under the vehicle he had been sleeping under, the afternoon sun blinds him but without waiting for his eyes to adjust, without hesitation or active thought he gets up and starts running. Why is he running? Where is he? What’s going on? His mind still has no answers, to try to think is to slow down and even though he doesn't know why he does know that he can’t do that right now.  
Where is Lynn?  
His frazzled mind and confused body are starting to no longer work in sync, he is stumbling, crying, feeling like he is about to suffocate due to the winded feeling within his chest. Then he sees her, like some sort of perfectly timed guardian angel; his older sister Lynn is standing in the shattered remains of the glass double doors of a chain pharmacy waving him in, shouting for him to hurry, reassuring him that he can do it.

The effort makes him feel like his body is about to give up and die but he manages to make it into the building. Alas stopping doesn’t go very smoothly and upon tripping on the edge of an old pop star perfume display he loses his feet and crashes hard into an awkward heap. He finally comes to a full stop between the lipstick and perfume counters, his body screams in pain, his mind screams in confusion, and he is about to verbally scream as a release for it all but Lynn is there placing a hand over his mouth, focusing him once more on the world around him, at least kind o, and shushing him. “No, hold it, you need to not do anything else that will attract them.”  
Corey may not understand everything at the moment but he knows she is right and puts his hand atop hers and works to swallow the sound of agony that is built up inside of him and calm his breathing.

Minutes pass, with nothing happening and finally Lynn says; “OK, we are going to remove our hands from your mouth. You can stay quiet right?”  
Corey nods.  
“Do you remember why you need to stay quiet?”  
His eyes plead silently at his sister, as much as he wants to say yes; he can’t.  
“Shhh…shhh…it's OK. Your night terrors have confused you again haven’t they?”  
He nods as she pushes a few stray hairs away from his eyes.   
“You’re condition is just getting worse and worse isn’t it?” Her voice is so calm and soothing Corey’s mind can’t help but start to settle as he listens to it. Settle and remember…  
As his eyes go wide his sister nods; “You’re starting to remember again, about the dead, the walkers?”  
Corey nods once more and takes a moment to peek through the cabinet glass to see if he could see anything outside but the coast is clear.  
“Looks like we’re in the clear.” 

Corey looks like he is about to start crying again but is trying to hold it in. His sister sighs with a bit of impatience but holds her tongue at least for the moment, at least to give him a chance to recover on his own. After long seconds though his eyes are watery, Corey’s breathing returns to a rate of regular but haggard. She smiles and rubs his shoulder; “Good on you Corey…you didn’t cry again.”  
Corey rubs his eyes with his sleeve; and nods at the encouragement. Normally when he remembers that his parents are probably dead, that so many people are dead he sees it all over again in his head like a show he has seen a hundred times but at the same time cause of his memory issues it also is like he’s experiencing it for the first time. Upon remembering he cries like he did when everything first happened but this time he seems to be together enough to not have the memory affect him as strongly as it usually does. 

“Alright, I’ll keep watch up front, you check the back OK?”  
Corey nods but doesn’t get up right away, he actually moves forward on all fours not risking standing up till he is certain that a walker won’t see him from a majority of the windows. At which point he scrambles to his feet to dart down the aisle and hides behind the end, just in case something may have noticed him moving about.  
It doesn’t sound like anything has, nor does Lynn shout any warning so after counting to ten just to make super-duper sure he moves to, then over the pharmacist counter. Like every other pharmacy they have encountered recently this place has been worked over numerous times yet he still searching through the scattered remains of what is there. Going so far as to search the floor and check the various fallen, and in some cases crushed, pills in hopes of even seeing a single one that he could use.

With no luck he starts punching the floor in frustration; Lynn is by his side instantly placing her hands on his and trying to calm him down again. “Shhh..come on….shhhhh…you know there was little chance, we haven’t been lucky in a while and yet your still here, still kickin’. So it’s not the end of the world…”  
“But they help so much…I miss things being clear, I miss sleeping right and stuff.”  
“In time, in time things will get better. For now though, things will still be stressful and we aren’t going to get much help. Focus….be strong….”  
“I should look for food…water…”  
Lynn smiles her voice full of encouragement as she agrees with him, praising him for thinking things through on his own though honestly the chances of finding anything are slim to none. 

Searching the store takes a mix of stealth, desperation and thoroughness but in the end there is a treasure trove of a payoff. Two large bottles of water, a box of granola bars, and three cans of stew. The stress of it all wears Corey out though so when he decides to scour the break room he actually barricades himself in there to rest for a bit.  
“You sure this is such a good idea?”  
Corey ignores his sister’s warning tone as he rustles through the little kitchen section of the break room. After rummaging in the drawers for a moment he pulls something out in his fist and gives a proud shout; “Yes!”  
His sister stares at him in confusion till he holds open his palm revealing his prize, a simple, hand operated can opener. She smiles too, “Wow, OK you are going to be super careful with that. Your life literally could depend on it.”  
“Hey! I’m not the one who lost the last one.”  
She goes to respond but can’t, it is a fair point.  
“And I think I will be taking two of these spoons as well that way we can not only eat today but not have to worry about it tomorrow…” He looks around like his mind is thinking on something hard but he isn’t sure.  
“What is it?”  
Corey moves over to the couch he has pushed against the door, unzips one of the cushions, removing the foam inside and stuffs his findings into it before zipping it back up. “Better than using a noisy plastic bag, at least till I can find a backpack or something…”  
When he looks up to get a response from his sister he gets confused; “What’s with the look.”  
“Just proud how much my little brother is thinking on his feet, playing it smart…though I still think this break room idea is terrible.”

Corey grabs the casing to make sure it will hold, and the zipper will stay despite the weight and shrugs; “I’m getting enough light coming in through the window there, and the blinds are closed enough that a walker shouldn’t notice the movement if they happen to walk in…”  
“OK but...”  
Corey holds up a hand; “I woke up bad, I just want to eat, have a little water and rest my eyes for ten minutes in peace. This is about a good of a chance as any that I’ll have.”  
He sits in the middle of the tiled floor and takes one can out of the casing, opens it and offers it to his sister. She shakes her head; “It’s OK, you eat first and then we will see how things go from there.”

Corey gets confused by the remark, his mind starts to try to think on something he's forgetting, there is a sharp pain, and the world starts to spin. So he lets go of whatever thought was trying to surface so that his mind will calm down again and focuses on eating. Though his concern and anxiety are slowly building, anytime a memory tries to force itself, it is never a good one. 

After he has finished eating, has a bit of water which Lynn also refuses he sits there trying to coax that reluctant memory from early out in a way that won’t hurt him. His sister starts to pace impatiently in front of him. “Have you remembered it yet?”  
“No, and I don’t think I want to…”  
“You need to.”  
Corey shakes his head, any memory he HAS to remember is not only not a good one but it will be a terrible one.  
“You need to remember this Corey, the gas station, the candy bar…”  
The pain and pressure in his head builds again as he both tries to forget and tries to remember at the same time and then just like a water balloon popping the memory soaks his mind.

Lynn kneels down in front of him and pulls him into a tight hug as his wide eyes show her that he is remembering everything.   
“You died…”  
“I did…”  
Corey pulls back and stares his sister in the eyes, “I don’t understand. If you died-“  
She brings a finger up to his lips; “You’re surviving the end of the world on your own, at your age. You are going to run into a lot of things you don’t understand, not everything is going to make sense but some things you will just have to accept on good faith.   
Now how about we lay down so you can catch that nap you wanted?”

Sitting on the floor of an old chain store pharmacy, a twelve year old boy stares blankly at a wall before nodding in agreement to the silence and moving to curl up on the couch that barricades him from the rest of the outside world.


End file.
